Cook Evaluation of Wyoming's New Depletions Plan

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reduce storage in Pathfinder for future use by North Platte contractors, but under certain water supply conditions, the effect could be to reduce storage in Glendo or the Inland Lakes for those contractors Conclusions: • Same as for Baseline 1, subbasin 1, except that to the extent non irrigation season overruns reduce storage in Pathfinder, Glendo or the Inland Lakes, they should be treated for routing purposes the same as storage releases from those respective reservoirs. Baseline 2, Subbasin 2 Overruns Assumptions: • Same as for Baseline 1, subbasin 2, except that overruns in this subbasin can also occur during the non-irrigation season. The effect would be to reduce storage in Glendo or the Inland Lakes for North Platte contractors. Conclusions: • Same as for Baseline 1, subbasin 2, except to the extent that overruns in this subbasin reduce storage in Glendo or the Inland Lakes, they should be treated for routing purposes the same as storage releases from those respective reservoirs. Baseline 2, Subbasin 3 Overruns Assumptions: • Overruns in this subbasin could result from any or a combination of the following: (1) an above average water supply above Guernsey that gets passed through because of natural flow demand or because Pathfinder or Glendo is spilling and that contributes to the surface water irrigation of more than the benchmark number of acres for this subbasin; (2) ground water irrigation that contributes to more than the benchmark number of acres; or (3) above benchmark municipal, industrial or other uses of water in this subbasin. Regardless of the reason for the overrun, it will cause a reduction in the amount of water crossing the state line that year or will reduce the amount of natural flow and increase the amount of storage used by any downstream North Platte contractor. • As with overruns in Baseline 1, Wyoming will want to offset them as soon as possible rather than let them accumulate. Allowing annual offsets would cause no significant harm to Nebraska or to the Program as long as the offset water crosses the state line in the same locations and in approximately the same proportions as would have crossed at those locations in the absence of the overrun. Conclusions: • An overrun in this subbasin should not be offset by an under run in any other subbasin because the overrun will not be the result of any such under run. • Any diversion that is foregone in this subbasin because of the overrun would have just produced an equal amount of overrun in this subbasin subject to the same offset requirements. 5